Arijit Banerjee, J. - (1.) The petitioner no. 1 (hereinafter referred to as 'IQ City Foundation') is a society registered under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961. The petitioner no. 2 is the president of IQ City Foundation.
(2.) Iq City Foundation has established a Health and Knowledge Campus in Durgapur, District Burdwan (in short 'Knowledge Campus'). IQ City Foundation has promoted the IQ City Medical College and a teaching hospital, called IQ City Narayana Multispecialty Hospital at the Knowledge Campus. The teaching hospital is functional from August, 2012 and the Medical College received its letter of permission from the Medical Council of India on 5 July, 2013.
(3.) In this writ application the petitioners challenge a Memo dated 25 January, 2017 issued by the Special Secretary to the Government of West Bengal accepting the recommendation of the Permanent Committee for fixation of fees for medical/dental colleges for the session 2016-17. The operative portion of the said memo reads as follows:- "The undersigned is directed by order of the Governor to say that the Governor has been pleased to accept the recommendations of the aforesaid Permanent Committee, and accordingly set the following fee structure for MBBS students at IQ City Medical College and Hospital, Durgapur as mentioned in paragraph 1 above, subject to the conditions that: (a)In terms of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, the fee so fixed by the Committee shall be binding for a period of 2016-17. (b) In terms of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, the IQ City Medical College and Hospital, Durgapur cannot charge either directly or indirectly any other amount over and above the amount fixed as fees by the Fee Structure Committee. There shall not be any profiteering or charging of capitation fees. If any other amount is charged, under any head or guise e.g. donations, the same would amount to charging of capitation fees, which will be a clear violation of the orders of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India. The IQ City Medical College and Hospital, Durgapur authorities are accordingly directed to submit a compliance report in this regard, and also furnish a report on the amount of fees collected under each head from different categories of students admitted there, on completion of the admission process. All concerned are being informed." Brief Background of the case:-;